Buying a New Car

[lumberjim]

1HGCP26829A072666

anyway: I put a 2 in and it worked. The last 6 are only for serial identification. The rest of the characters mean things. Like 1 is Built in US, H is Honda, etc. the 10th digit is year of model.

This may help:



That's what cars have actually sold in this region. The highlighted one is closest, but the condition sounds better than what you describe. I might go 12k for the car if they want to sell it.

[glatt]

I can try for a better picture tonight or tomorrow. I cut through their property and walk right next to the car twice a day.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

That's what cars have actually sold in this region. The highlighted one is closest, but the condition sounds better than what you describe. I might go 12k for the car if they want to sell it.

Awesome! Thank you.

It looks like it's in good shape other than 4-5 scuff marks, each about the size of a human hand, scattered around the lower part of the car on pretty much every side.

[lumberjim]

yabbut, if the tires are dry rotted, that's $500 for a new set.... They're good dependable cars, Accords. A little loud inside compared to your camry and the altima, and the interior quality is usually not as good... But they just keep running.

[glatt]

Should I be concerned at all about the mostly short local trips and probably no highway miles? Or with only 8,000 miles, is that not enough time for carbon deposits to have gotten built up in the engine and not get burned off?

[lumberjim]

you should drive it. You say you share a mechanic? if hew knows it's for sale, he might bid you up, so you may want to take it elsewhere for an inspection. 8000 miles is just breaking in, but gas and oil get gunky when they get old... so if you do buy it, I'd recommend fuel injection cleaner and change oil, trans fluid and coolant on day one.

[classicman]

I'll buy it if you don't

[glatt]

If this works out, all those days of shoveling her driveway for her will pay off.

[glatt]

We bought the car last night!

Well, sort of. We test drove it and liked it and agreed on a price and they signed the title over to us and gave us the title.

The car is still in their driveway until tomorrow, and they still have the keys, and we haven't given them a check yet. But my wife is heading over to the DMV today to get new tags and a new title and to get it registered. We'll finalize everything tomorrow after the one sister uses it to drop the other off at the airport. Hope they don't get in an accident on this one limbo day.

They gave us the "good neighbor discount" and we agreed on a $10k price. I'm really pleased with that. I think a normal private party sale between strangers would have been closer to $14k.

It smells new inside! And not like a masking cleanser sort of smell. It really smells new. Super clean inside, and they didn't even clean it for us. It's never been dirty. A few scuffs on the outside, and it needs new tires, but is otherwise great. At that price and with that mileage, I didn't take it to a mechanic. It drove well.

We finished off the night visiting with them and talking about their mom and our memories of her. It was nice. Hugged each other when we left. The best car buying experience I've ever had.

It's got a stiffer ride than the Camry and a slightly larger turning radius, which I didn't think was possible. So it will take a little adjusting to the new driving feel, but it really feels like a brand new car!

So once it's in our driveway and all legal, we'll take our 2001 Camry over to Carmax and unload it on them. Probably won't get too much, but we don't need 3 cars and it's just too unreliable. I just hope the intermittent problem doesn't show up when they test drive it.

[Clodfobble]

Congratulations!

[xoxoxoBruce]

But for a few grand more you could have hugged Jim.

[infinite monkey]

Awesome, glatt. Enjoy it!

[glatt]

Thanks all!

[classicman]

Congrats!

Last Tuesday I took my car for an oil change and a check up, mechanic called me back and told me I had a blown head gasket.
After driving a bunch of different cars and looking at the prices new vs used, I consulted with Jim and a couple others who know stuff about cars.
After 5 Nissans in a row, I bought a '15 Civic EX. Love this car. First new "new car" for me in 25 years.

[glatt]

Awesome!